Troy

@zaji thanks for asking. I'm making some progress. This past month has been very hectic. I actually relocated to Florida this month. I'd been living between NYC and FL for several years, but no longer have a residence in NYC. Hit me at troy@aalbc.com for the gory details... Basically, the upgrades are progressing more slowly than I anticipated. I'm getting close to a design I like. I also decided to keep things really simple and work with a single template; (basically a pared down version of the Blog design: https://aalbc.com/template2018.php I'd hoped to have this done before the spring semester started.. I guess I'll use this experience as a lesson for my students :-)

@Cynique would you (anyone actually) try this link again and see if it prompts you to subscribe to my YouTube channel. Thanks!

The plan is to produce more videos of this type to promote the books of publishers and authors who have demonstrated a commitment to #ReadingBlack. To keep videos like these and more coming please subscribe to The Tea's YouTube Channel. Also subscribe to AALBC.com's YouTube Channel as well.

@Pioneer1 I really wish they would report the true unemployment numbers. In places like Harlem, for black men, the number has been reported to be as high as 50% @Cynique, I also wish they would report more widely how many people are working for "slave wages" or work two slave wage jobs just to survive. I heard the places like San Francisco, people with jobs are renting out driveways so that they can sleep in their cars! This in an system where someone can "earn" more than $100,000,000,000. Sad...

Thanks @Shaun Randol I folks do indeed use this to discover he work of some of gth writers you've published. . @zaji, I hear you, while your three year old has the same mental capacity and can probably exert more self control than 45, she is not in control our military nor does she have the ability to write and executive orders. In other words, your three-year-old is not dangerous. Unfortunately, what 45 says matters.

Yes, you are right, I need to mention readingblack.com. thanks for the reminder.

Please share this video and subscribe to The Tea's YouTube channel -- they produced the video.

No it is not just you it is the reality. African are not immune to this either. When Africans behave in the manner you describe just recognize they have fallen victim to the very same influence.

@Cynique you raise a very interesting issue. But I would be cautious and consider your resentment. It is true Africans are receiving a great deal of accolades in the film industry. This of course extends to the Idris Elba, the brothers who stared in Stars Wars and 12 Years a Slave (too lazy to look up the spelling of their names). The same thing could be said for white america's love affair with the African writers. I only say consider your resentment because it is formed from a white sensibility. Black folks, globally, have far too much work to do to be bogged down by who white folk decide the flavor of the month will be. So if they want to help praise on Lupita and ignore talented Black American's fine... but we must be careful in harboring resentment against other Blacks folks based upon what white folks do. I'm not trying to, nor would I attempt to lecture you Cynique, but I'm really talking to everyone who might read this an share your sentiment. I don't think is it a minority sentiment it is just one we don't often hear expressed because we really have a very limited voice in mainstream media. @Pioneer1 I saved the video in my queue to stuff to watch. I have no clue when I'll get to it but if I do i'll hit you up again.

@Delano, thanks for sharing this article man! How did you discover this article? These guys completely understand what is at stake. I wish this message reached the masses. As these huge companies have come to dominate the Internet, “they have caused a variety of problems of which we are only now beginning to become aware,” he explained. Echoing something Rupert Murdoch said last week, he identified one of these problems as the tech giants’ failure to pay for the content on their platforms. “They claim they are merely distributing information. But the fact that they are near-monopoly distributors makes them public utilities, and should subject them to more stringent regulations, aimed at preserving competition, innovation, and fair and open universal access.” In economic terms, Soros suggested, the tech giants were making excessive profits and stifling innovation. And their behavior was also causing larger social and political problems. Social-media companies “deliberately engineer addiction to the services they provide,” he noted. “This can be very harmful, particularly for adolescents.” In this sense, tech companies were similar to casinos that “have developed techniques to hook gamblers to the point where they gamble away all their money, even money they don’t have.” It wasn’t merely a matter of “distraction” or “addiction,” Soros went on. Social-media companies “are inducing people to give up their autonomy. . . . It takes a real effort to assert and defend what John Stuart Mill called ‘the freedom of mind.’ There is a possibility that, once lost, people who grow up in the digital age will have difficulty in regaining it. This may have far-reaching political consequences. People without the freedom of mind can be easily manipulated.”

<a class="twitter-timeline" href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/readingblack" data-widget-id="956911751261454336">#readingblack Tweets</a> <script>!function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],p=/^http:/.test(d.location)?'http':'https';if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src=p+"://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js";fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document,"script","twitter-wjs");</script> The code above will result in the display below. The display is both responsive and supports https: #readingblack Tweets

The Divine Butterfly: Inspiration For The Journey To Your Purpose by Karen H. St. Hilaire The group of ladies speaking with Karen are members of "The Tea" book club. The Tea select books every month and create a series of videos on the author and their book. New videos are released every Thursday (subscribe to their YouTube channel to support their work). I have been working closely with The Tea and they have been extremely supportive of my efforts with AALBC, including #readingblack. I'll be featured in more videos, and even participated on one of the club's discussions--this is really good stuff and I'm excited to be working with The Tea

Thanks for the voice of reason @Bill. The 90's comment was really over the top, but as you wrote the article itself did address an important subject. I do need to address the way the site is organized to help people appreciate amount of information that is contained here, and that is the final stage of the redesign. My blog is actually sporting the new look: https://aalbc.com/blog/index.php/2018/01/23/mantle-proudly-publishes-authors-shithole-countries/

I just now noticed the post @Pioneer1, it is over 90 minutes long, man I don't know when I'll get a chance to watch this. 90 minutes is a long time to invest in a amateur video with folks I don't know... why don't you share the time stamp(s) of the portions of the video you feel should be watched.

@Bill, Amazon has the global capital markets at their disposal. They could acquire investors while not showing a profit for years. Organizations like AALBC.com do not have that insurmountable advantage. My best hope is that this platform and help create the "careful discussion among the potential benefactors/market-constructors," for it is in our self interest on so many levels. Without the massive and ongoing infusion of cash, that Amazon enjoys, how do we compete? I believe we compete by providing a service readers desire that Amazon can not provide. Some authors like @Mel Hopkins, simply do not make her books available for sale on Amazon. I know others who do the same. I appreciate and understand why many authors are not willing to embargo Amazon. Alternatively, authors can directly sell signed copies or sell their books at a price lower than what Amazon offers. These are two easy things authors and publishers can do to compete -- while earning more per book sold. However, as you suggest, we'd still have to contend with Amazon's one-click ordering bolstered by the loyalty created with their Prime membership. This is a tough nut to crack, while many readers are motivated by the spirit of #readingblack, most need more of an incentive. Any ideas?

Yes there are a variety of both technical and colloquial uses for the word "Gang." Were you simply providing more information or was there a point you were interested in making? Funny your post brought to mind the debate here between Information and knowledge. You posted a lot of information about the word gang, but it would have been more interesting to read what knowledge you, personally, were attempting to convey.

Hi C Grimes, your vote is not limited to the authors currently on the list. You may vote for any author you like provided that they were both alive and published a book, in the 21st century (after 1999). You may cast your vote here. I'm about to refresh the list with the new votes. I have not updated it since late October.

Hi Mona, I have over the years provided a platform for Bloggers. I maintain a database of Bloggers, allow people to create a blog here, maintain a forum to bloggers to exchanges ideas, and of course I blog myself. Did you find what you were looking for? I hope you don't mind me probing; I'm always interested in how people discover and use the website. Thanks, Troy

Hi Mona, thanks for the kind words. How did you discover our forum?

This is actually a very big deal for anyone deriving revenue on their websites by running advertisements "Advertising is a critical component of the web, keeping content open and free for everyone. However, over the years we've increasingly heard from users that while some types of advertising are fine, others can seem overwhelmingly frustrating or intrusive. Due to these poor ad experiences, the usage of extensions that block ads across the web continues to rise, up about 30% from just last year. This reduces the ability for publishers to continue creating free content and threatens the sustainability of the web ecosystem." Read the rest of Rahul Roy-Chowdhury, Goolge's VP Product Management, statement on the Chromium Blog. The company that provides my ad serving capability, Advertserve suggests the following changes based upon what Google has reported: Ad Format Risks / Resolution Castaway Should not exceed 100px in height on mobile or 30% of screen height on desktop Crawler Should not exceed 100px in height on mobile or 30% of screen height on desktop Flashing Ads that animate and flash with rapidly changing background and colors must be discontinued Lightbox Discontinue on mobile and optimize for desktop Nudger Should not exceed 100px in height on mobile or 30% of screen height on desktop Overlay Discontinue on mobile and optimize for desktop Shoutbox Should not exceed 100px in height on mobile or 30% of screen height on desktop Smoke Screen Should not exceed 100px in height on mobile or 30% of screen height on desktop Video Auto-playing is allowed, but sound must be muted initially Tabups/Tabunders Discontinue Popups/Popunders Discontinue Many of these suggestions ever worse one not described above are a good thing. Considering Google dominates search you basically have to comply. One is also forced to reckon with the fact that Google has more to lose here as anyone else. Despite all that noise Rahul raises about publishers being able to create free content. The real issue is if ad blocking continues to grow Google's revenue will be hurt. SO Goolge has every incentive in the world to eliminate intrusive ads os that ad blockers become unnecessary. If free content disappears Google will also lose a source of information they swipe for their knowledge base used on their search engine results page. You can identify any issues you might have with your website's advertisements by reviewing the Ad Experience Report for you website in Google's webmaster tools.

The publisher is offering a 33% discount on their titles for a limited time: #readingblack

The term gang has a negative connotation and is a limitted perspective for why they exist. Like frats, gangs exisit to help people with shared perspectivies to derive a variety of benefits only possible from a group. Religions serve the same purpose. They are indeed natural, but when you have charismatic leaders who exploit their leadership role the results can be catastrophic. Our biggest problem has to do with how our "gangs" are valued and perceived by ourselves and others. For poor, uneducated people the options are often limited to street gangs and the church, so I don't begrudge either institution at least until they start harming people.

Here is some of the feedback from the email -- almost all of these messages came from a cell phone. “Love it..." “Yes, you do...and we, from the USA who have to put up with that ignoramus, are glad you do!” “Terrific!!” “I understand what you're doing here but I really wish people would stop perpetuating what the asshole said in making reference to these countries! When they go low, we go high and this does not represent high.” “I received your email this morning and would like to remark that my family has been publishing books from Haiti, another “shithole country.” Please forward some information about aalbc specifically marketing information at your earliest convenience. Thanks in advance.” “Right on Troy with respect” Brotha, you on point. I'm thinking of a podcast with "shithole" Harlemites in the arts. Your stepping towards the word and not away from it is a great new year present. Immeasurable respect and admiration for the awesome work you are doing! I want to make an observation that I hope you will accept in the spirit of community and uplift in which it is given. I, like so many others, was devastated to learn of the President’s derogatory reference to El Salvador, Haiti and Africa. I believe we subconsciously advance his remarks and sentiments when we repeat and replay them.

.. don;t forget the Brother running around killing everybody. I can no longer joke and say mass murder is just for white men. I was in New York Grand Central terminal last night and saw an magazine on a stand with Oprah on the cover which read Oprah says "yes" to 2020 presidential run. I actually laughed out loud. It just sounded so crazy--even after the election of 45. But the US already very balkanized. Manhattan is a virtual gated community. It already $15 just to drive in NYC and now they are talking about charging another $15 just to drive into midtown! I could go on describing how Manhattan is quickly becoming a bastion of rich white people.

I read an article about this in today's New York Times. I have ALWAYS thought this was an exploitative practice that allowed Ariana to become fantastically wealthy without sharing a penny of it with the writers who made her wealth possible. Writers felt getting a HuffPost byline was payment enough. I thought that was just dumb considering virtually anyone could write for the website. Indeed the numbers of unpaid writers they exploited was staggering! The Huffington Post (or whatever it is called now), was one of the reasons I wrote this article almost 5 years ago, “5 Things Writers Must Do To Survive Online.” Point #5 specifically addressed THP. When writers decide to write for wealthy sites for free it depresses rates for all writers. How can an AALBC.com afford to pay writers when the largest platforms that I compete with gets their content for free? I still pay writers for my reviews, but I pay for far fewer reviews as a result. This is why you don't see a lot of professionally written reviews of Black books on platforms with a decent audience. Worse still, is the fact that the free content was unvetted and often paid for by sponsors! More than one writer I know told me their articles were sponsored and this was not made clear to the reader. This was told to me when I asked why do you give the THP free content. Getting sponsors to pay was how they made up for it. To be clear: some articles on THP were just straight up advertising that was disguised as an article or even journalism! This change is a good one for the Huffington Post. Now that they are taking their content seriously I may start reading their site--which I, up to this point, actively avoided. I view writing for the HuffPost for free no differently that writing for Wikipedia or social media for free... ...at least sharecroppers got food and a place to live.